1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to software malfunction detection and reporting.
2. State of the Art
Software malfunction detection and reporting tools are known. One such tool is Microsoft's “Dr. Watson.” Dr. Watson is a debugging tool designed to provide software programmers with detailed information on the internal state of the Windows operating system when a Unhandled Application Exception (UAE) occurs. Dr. Watson must be running at the time a UAE occurs to extract the internal information from the system.
Dr. Watson uses comparatively little memory and does not affect the performance of Windows. A software programmer therefore has no reason not to install Dr. Watson, especially if a UAE has occurred before. After Dr. Watson is installed, information is collected when a UAE occurs and written to a special file (DRWATSON.LOG) located in the Windows directory. In addition, a Dr. Watson dialog box will appear, prompting the user to enter a description of what the user was doing prior to receiving the error. A developer may choose to start Dr. Watson automatically each time Windows is started, thus allowing critical information to be collected each time a UAE occurs. After several UAEs have been logged, the log may, if desired, be sent to a remote location for diagnosis.
Dr. Watson is a diagnostic tool, not a cure for a problem. Having Dr. Watson will not prevent an error from occurring, but the information in DRWATSON.LOG often helps developers determine the cause of the error.
Another tool, the Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD) program, is designed to assist Microsoft customers and Product Support Services (PSS) technicians in solving problems with Microsoft products. MSD identifies system configuration information such as the BIOS, video card type and manufacturer, installed processor(s), I/O port status, operating system version, environment settings, hardware devices attached, and additional software running concurrently with MSD.
MSD is often used in conjunction with Dr. Watson to provide information on hardware configurations and UAEs. Error reports may be generated that include information from both the MSD program and Dr. Watson.
As may be appreciated from the foregoing description, existing software malfunction detection and reporting tools are targeted to software developers. Significant computer expertise and manual interaction is required in order to use these tools effectively. In particular, such tools are not well suited for beta users. Although beta users are supposed to report crashes and malfunctions, a beta user may experience a malfunction but, in the day-to-day rush of business, fail to report it. A need exists for a software failure and detection tool well suited for beta users such that a software developer can obtain malfunction reports and diagnostic information easily and reliably.